Europe is now facing one of its biggest challanges

Ever since the global financial crisis, the world has been facing a debilitating problem: dangerously high youth unemployment rates. One region that has been affected particularly hard by this problem is Europe — both in its developed economies and its emerging ones.

European countries such as Greece, Bosnia, Spain ranked first among countries with the worst youth unemployment rates, according to a study released back in 2014.

More recently, Michael Hartnett and Brian Leung from Bank of America Merrill Lynch shared, in a note to clients, a chart mapping the current youth unemployment rates across EU countries.

Greece and Spain maintain their positions as leaders in this worrisome ranking. Fortunately, countries like Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Germany sit at the other end of the spectrum, with relatively low unemployment rates of up to 10%.

Such rankings are extremely important and should be taken into account in future economical and political negotiations and reforms, as they highlight a very dangerous problem that Europe in particular has been facing for a while.

It goes without saying that the economy of a country relies heavily on a strong, capable work force. If the youth are not given opportunities to contribute to the development of the economy once they’ve acquired sufficient skills, then their education and all the efforts invested in it will be all for nothing.

Andreea is a recent graduate of the University of Bucharest, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in American Cultural Studies. She's currently enrolled in a Master's program in the same field with a particular interest in literature and media studies. She makes the most of her leisure time by reading mystery novels, playing video games and pursuing her greatest passion, photography.